MARION – The brown, dry grass earlier this summer also meant less green in the pockets of lawn care businesses.

Though rain has been plentiful in late August and September, June and July were two of the driest months Southern Illinois has seen in some time. And though their prospects have improved in recent weeks, lawn care businesses have been greatly affected by the dry weather.

Jarrod Greer is assistant manager at Scott Lawn Services in Marion, which specializes in fertilization, pest control and turf management. He said his company has had to be a little pragmatic because their products are watered by rain, which they could not depend on this summer.

"What we did differently was we used an insecticide that killed out insects that killed the moisture in the grass," Greer said.